Jail term for explicit poolside behaviour

A man who shocked women at an aqua aerobics class as he performed a sex act in the public poolside shower has been jailed for six months.

John Gaynor of Ballinleague, Rathconrath failed to provide compensation at Mullingar District Court, a move which left Judge Seamus Hughes clearly unimpressed.

“He brazened it out,” said the judge of Gaynor who contested the case, “and doesn’t accept the verdict to this day”.

He ordered that €6,000 cash be presented to the court to secure his release on bail after he jailed him and the following day, his elderly mother appeared in court with the money.

Mr Louis Kiernan said he had hoped to have a psychiatric report and while it had been paid for, it was not forthcoming.

“He’s going into custody today. There’s no report, no money, and I gave you an opportunity,” said the judge, who said the money was to be divided between the pool, the victims and a public cause.

A previous sitting of Mullingar District Court heard of Gaynor’s explicit behaviour as he lingered in the poolside shower at Mullingar’s public swimming pool on two dates last April.

One woman described how the bachelor farmer’s skin-tight, shorts were pulled down behind to reveal his buttocks while he had his hands inside the front of the togs.

On a couple of occasions, his togs were low enough to expose himself, and she described his public behaviour as “inappropriate and unacceptable”.

Pool manager Tracy Cullen described how, on the same day that she’d had a separate complaint from a swim instructor about Gaynor’s behaviour, he openly performed a sex act in the poolside shower as she taught aqua aerobics to forty women who, fortunately, had their backs to him.

She described how he exposed himself fully and smiled before leaving the area.

The next day she told him his behaviour was unacceptable and banned him from attending the pool.

One of her students told the court how a week earlier she’d been late for her aqua class when she passed Gaynor performing a sexual act in the shower.

She had felt uncomfortable and shocked by his “disturbing” behaviour and complained to Ms Cullen.

However, Gaynor told the court that Ms Cullen simply told him his togs were too short and they were “deemed immodest”.

He showed the grey Speedo-style togs to the court and described them as old-style, saying he had bought them 10 or 15 years earlier.

He insisted that he “most definitely did not” perform a sex act at the pool on any occasion.

However he admitted he sometimes had his hands in his togs as he washed himself down in a “normal” way to get rid of chlorine.

He took his time in the shower as the hot water eased the pain caused by trapped nerves in his muscles, he said.

He was “most aggrieved” at the allegations and was taken completely by surprise when a garda called to his door.

Just before he was jailed at the latest sitting of the court, Gaynor said his evidence had been “greatly compromised”.

But Judge Hughes wasn’t interested.

“Listen to me. I’ve heard your case. I made a decision. I’ve no doubt.”